Running vs. Jogging

I call myself a runner. I feel like a runner, I wear "running shoes", so why when I run into people who see me on the street do they always refer to my running as jogging? Am I that slow that the passer by decides that I must not be running, or is it just symantics?

I talked with my husband, who is also a runner, about this and his determination is made by the way you look. According to him, if you are wearing a headband and sweat socks, you must be a jogger. Well I do not with a headband or sweatsocks so his conclusions do not seem to be the proper barometer.

I always thought that jogging was a phrase that was more used in years past. Today it seems that people that once used the term jogging now refer to their activity as running. This can be easily proven by going to any race around the country and see how many participants you offend by calling them joggers (I bet quite a few). But this is not the 70's and people still call me a jogger here in 2009 so I guess I too am off the mark.

This leaves me but one somewhat sad conclusion, it is my speed. As it turns out, the difference between the two has nothing to do with how you look or what decade you trained in, it has to do with how fast you move. If you run slower than a 9 minute mile, you are a jogger, if you run faster than a 9 minute mile you are a runner.

This does not make me happy, as I have been working for the last three years to get below a ten minute mile and never have considered myself a jogger. No matter how fast I go, I will still be completing training "runs" not training "jogs". Oh well maybe someday I will be fast enough to be worthy to carry the runner title until then I guess I will be a rebel and keep refering to myself as a runner.